That’s the word both Weatherly coach Kevin Kringe and Marian mentor Paul Brutto used to describe the Fillies’ late second-half play as they held on for a 55-43 win over the Wreckers Monday night.

Marian saw its double-digit lead reduced to just two points (34-32) when Weatherly’s Emily Zoscin scored on a driving layup with just under two minutes to go in the third quarter.

Emma McClafferty answered with a put back for the Fillies, and Weatherly couldn’t get any closer than four points the rest of the way.

“Weatherly is difficult to play,” said Brutto. “You have to face their pressure defense for a full 32 minutes.”

“They handled our pressure pretty well in the first half,” said Kringe, “but we dialed it up a notch in the third quarter, got some turnovers and made it a game.”

Zoscin, who led all scorers with 20 points, was aggressive in the third quarter, scoring eight points off layups. She was the force that kept the Wreckers challenging for a victory in the second half.

In the opening quarter, Weatherly stayed close thanks to nine points from Zoscin. Unfortunately for Weatherly, it couldn’t stop the Fillies’ Isabella Schwabe, who tallied 10 points off pivot bank shots down low.

Marian appeared poised to put the game away in the second session. Led by Emily Schaud and Macy Alansky, the Fillies went on a 9-0 run. It wasn’t until Zoscin sank a free throw at the 4:06 mark that Weatherly scored its first point. The Fillies ended the half with a seemingly comfortable 31-18 advantage.

“We felt at some point we would hit a bad stretch because of their relentless pressure,” said Brutto. “And we did in the third. We played good basketball in the beginning and in the end.”

“We seem to have too many games where we have slow starts and have to play from behind,” said Kringe. “And tonight we did that again.”

After Weatherly closed to 40-34, Alansky drained a three-pointer to lengthen the lead to nine. But Lindsay Hoffman answered with her own trey to bring the deficit back to six with nearly seven minutes left in the game.

Marian, however, outscored its opponent by a 12-6 margin over the final six minutes.

Schwabe dominated underneath, as she did in the first quarter, and ended with a team-high 19 points. Several fouls on Shaud sent her to the line, where she added five of her 14 points in the final two minutes.

‘We intended to take advantage of our size against them,” said Brutto. “We were able to get the ball into Isabella with some good passes and she was able to capitalize.”

Brutto was very impressed with the Wreckers.

“They are going to be a tough out in the single A playoffs,” he said.

FLOOR FALLS … The game was very physical, with several players hitting the floor after hard contact in the paint, leading to both teams combining to score 25 points at the charity stripe.

BEAT THE CLOCK… With time winding down, Marian kept possession and took nearly a minute-and-a-half off the clock with perfect passing around the perimeter.